BENTONVILLE — Bryant made sure that Rogers Heritage’s first trip to the Class 7A state volleyball tournament was a short one.
The Lady Hornets used a strong service game to put Heritage back on its heels early, then scored the final six points to close out the match 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 on Tuesday afternoon at Bentonville High School’s Tiger Arena.
Sophomore Hannah Rice served up seven of Bryant’s 13 aces, which helped keep Heritage out of sync offensively much of the match.
Heritage Coach Sarah Miser said her team had problems receiving serves the entire match, something that’s unusual for the Lady War Eagles (13-17-3).
“We didn’t move our feet, but they mixed up their serves, going short and long,” Miser said. “Give them credit.”
Three aces by Rice keyed a 6-0 run by Bryant (13-6) in the opening set that turned a 9-7 Heritage lead into a 13-9 deficit. The Lady Hornets, the No. 3 seed from the 7A-Central, went on to close out the first-set victory.
Bryant outscored Heritage 10-2 to break away from a 14-14 tie in the second set. Bryant was led by the strong net play of high-flying junior Brianna White and sophomore Courtney Davidson. White had a kill, a block and two blockassists in the run, while Davidson added two kills and two block assists.
Bryant Coach Beth Soloman said serving is one of her team’s strengths.
“We’ve got a lot of girls who can spot serve, and we focus on it a lot,” Soloman said. “We try to feed off that offensively, and that made a huge difference. If we can get the serve there it puts them back on their heels and they can get the ball to their power hitters.”
Davidson and Maggie Hart led a balanced Bryant attack with 8 kills each, while White added 5 kills, 2 blocks and 3 block assists.
Senior outside hitter Shelby White led Heritage, the No. 6 seed from the 7A-West, with a match-high 12 kills and Emily Alderson added seven.
Miser said she thought the Lady War Eagles would loosen up a bit as the match progressed but it just didn’t happen. Heritage led 22-17 and 23-19 in the third set, but Bryant ended the match with an 8-1 run.
“It seemed like they were tight the whole three games,” Miser said. “It’s frustrating when you know what your girls are capable of. You know what they did just last week.
“Some of the sophomores, you could tell they were sophomores today.”
Sports, Pages 24 on 10/27/2010